#aro open offer

[godlessace]

An open offer to the aro community

Do you have complaints about the ace community?  Do you want people in the ace community to actually see these complaints, and respond to them--accepting the risk that people will respond negatively?  I have the power to make it happen, so please message me about it.

For the last few months, I’ve been keeping tabs on some aro tumblr blogs, and I see people complaining about the ace community a lot.  But most of the time, hardly anyone in the ace community actually sees these complaints, unless I choose to link or reblog them.  I think a lot of the complainers prefer it that way, and are just trying to vent.

This presents a problem, because I can’t tell when you’re venting.  I worry that I will bring unwanted negative attention to bloggers, or perhaps I’ll systematically highlight only complaints of a certain kind.  If you’re not just venting, and you want your complaints to actually get somewhere, please tell me.  Help me help you.

Who am I?  I’m the admin of The Asexual Agenda, a popular ace blog meant to enable high-level discussion.  I can do several things, such as including you in our linkspam, start an open thread, host a guest post, or simply reblog your post on my personal tumblr.

It should be known that we are only a small segment of the ace community, and sometimes our response will be “that’s some other part of the ace community that we have no power over,”  or, “We can’t even tell if you're talking about us.”  Specific examples or links are particularly helpful; do not assume that we’re familiar with the thing you’re complaining about.

Update: For those who are interested, here are some details on options and expectations.

[godlessace]

Aros: I can promote your commentary

I run a prominent group blog, The Asexual Agenda, and one of our goals is to promote insightful commentary.  Although we are an ace blog, we regularly promote and discuss content from the aro community as well--including allo aro stuff.  If you have some commentary, and would like people to see it and talk about it, I'm here for you, so let me know.

This is an especially great opportunity if for some reason you want the attention of people in the ace community.  For example, we recently hosted a collection of aro complaints about ace communities.

If this offer interests you, then I have another post with further details and caveats.  The most important detail is that I can promote you in two ways: link to your content, or host it.  Message me and we can discuss our approach.

And although I'm emphasizing that this offer is open to aros, naturally it is open to aces as well.

[godlessace]

A housekeeping note regarding my open offer to aro communities.

I’ve collected enough responses to publish an article.  Expect it soon.

After we see how the discussion goes, I would like to restate my open offer, but reframe it.  The Asexual Agenda is interested in highlighting all sorts of commentary, not just “aro complaints about the ace community”.  I’ve also been made aware of a technical obstacle: tumblr won’t show articles with external links in tag searches.  I have a workaround in mind.

[godlessace]

I’ve negotiated with as21-7 to publish their comment on The Asexual Agenda, once I get comments from one or two more people.  So if anyone else would like to say something, please DM me, and we can make this happen.  It’s okay if you just have a short point, or if it’s redundant with as21-7′s comment.

[godlessace]

Open offer: further details

This post is not meant for reblogging, it's just providing further details on my offer to aros to promote their content.

Our blog is The Asexual Agenda.  We host original articles and weekly linkspams.  Our content also gets linked on tumblr and twitter.  Our goal is to offer higher level discussion of ace issues, and connect people to important conversations.

There are two main ways we can promote your content:

Linkspam: Send me a link to an article you want promoted, and it could appear in our linkspam, which occurs every 1-2 weeks.

Hosted content: If you would like to stimulate more discussion, we can host your comment or commentary on our blog.  For example, I recently collected a bunch of short complaints from the aro community about the ace community, and published them here.  Be warned that it took me months to collect those comments, so you'll have to be a bit patient.  Note that we can host your comments anonymously.

We can also negotiate other options, for example I could just reblog something of yours on tumblr.  Please message me and I can answer any questions.

Some caveats:

1. I may decline to promote content at my own discretion.  If I feel the commentary is inappropriate, or not of interest to our readership, I will say so.

2. We have a critically-minded readership.  That means that we value commentary even when it is very negative and critical, but our readers can be critical right back.  Generally this means people will poke at it and think of complicating factors.  If I think people will outright disagree with your commentary, I’ll try to let you know upfront.

This offer supersedes the offer that I made to the aro community back in April 2019.

[godlessace]

Publicization options

This is a reference article for anyone who was interested in taking up my offer here.  Not intended for reblogging.

So you’d like to critique or complain about the ace community?  Let’s talk options.

Reblogging - If you send me a link to a post you’ve put up on tumblr, I can reblog it on this account.  I don’t really have that many followers, but many vocal activists follow me, so sometimes it spreads around.

Linkspam - If you send me a link to anything you’ve written, I can include it in The Asexual Agenda’s linkspam.  This is a link roundup that we post every 1-2 weeks.  Lots of people read this stuff.

Discussion on The Asexual Agenda - If a few people send me short comments, I can compile them into a post.  Lots of people read this AND it will generate discussion.  You can even participate in the discussion, no account needed.  If you prefer, your comments will be published anonymously.  Since you wouldn’t be alone, you wouldn’t have to feel like you’re playing representative for anyone.  However, it may take some time for me to collect enough comments to compile into a post.

Guest post - For long comments only.  We will interact over e-mail, and give feedback on your draft.

A brief FAQ:

How should I expect people to react?

Honestly?  I expect a lot of people to concur with your complaints.  Other people will not be aware of the thing you’re criticizing but will agree that it’s bad.  But you may also hear disagreements and complicating factors.  I think most people will be nice even if they disagree.  If I think people will totally hate your comments, I will tell you before they are publicized.

If you really feel uncertain about how people will react to any specific comment, you may ask my personal opinion.

How long should my comments be?

Any length.  However, depending on length I might prefer certain methods of publicization.

What’s in it for you?

The mission of The Asexual Agenda is to promote discussion and deeper understanding.  For us, criticism is an opportunity to learn.  My offer to publicize your complaints is open as long as I feel that people are learning from it.